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Advertising and Marketing Strategies: Article Marketing Basics

Article marketing is an advertising and marketing strategy
that provides a business the opportunity to spread solid expertise. Business
owners can distribute targeted information within the industry and attract
potential customers through strategic placement, solid content and enticing
copy executed in an online article. This strategy is not a new concept and has
evolved with the introduction of new technologies. In today’s marketplace,
articles are typically written for Internet distribution using search engine
optimization (SEO) techniques.

History of Article Marketing

Since the inception of print media, business owners have
harnessed the power of articles to promote their business. Well-written copy
would appear inside a newspaper, for example, addressing an industry issue and
include the business’ contact information. As a result, the print medium’s
readership would gain valuable insight into the topic and possibly, seeing the
business as in expert in the field, record the contact information for future
use.

The Internet has changed the article marketing venue by
providing on-demand access to information. As a result, this advertising and
marketing strategy has changed substantially requiring technical SEO skills in
addition to valuable content and promotion techniques.

Article Marketing and SEO

When Internet users search for an online article, they use
very broad or very specific keywords to locate their interests. Online articles
are indexed by search engines based on their relevance to search terms and
keywords. As a result, an article that meets a search engine’s quality and
relevance standards appears closer to the top of the search engine results page
(SERP). Incorporating relevant keywords into an article’s copy while
maintaining a high level of readership and consistent performance is called
search engine optimization. While the technique can be very technical, it is
required to reach a larger audience, which can translate into sales leads.

Article Marketing Distribution

After a well-crafted article is created, the article owner
must distribute it to gain attention and readership. An article directory is an
online database that serves articles related to a specific industry or general
interests. Many article directories exist, each with their own requirements,
editorial guidelines and submission details.

These directories are a key element to reaching an audience
especially if a business does not have a website. In addition, many businesses
utilize the directories to create “backlinks” to articles that exist on private
web pages or to extend the reach of the message. The directories may earn money
by placing relevant advertisements around each article and some sites may
require a submission fee.

When executed correctly, article marketing offers business
owners several benefits. The business appears to be an expert in the industry
and increased web traffic to a specific web page can result in sales
conversions. Web copy serves as one of many long-term advertisement and
marketing strategies as they mature and become more prominent in the SERPs. As
an advertising strategy, the success of web copy depends on the quality of the
content offered.